Ewwwwww

Talan loves his daddy. He was excited when Brad woke up to eat dinner with the family. He is currently on night shift so we hadn't seen him all day. As soon as Talan saw Brad he smiled so big. Then about half way through dinner he reached for his daddy to pick him up and for the next 5 minutes or so just cuddled away on him. I can say I am a tad bit jealous because I didn't get cuddled today. Instead I listened to Talan scream at me in his new found "I am not happy" voice.

When Talan was done eating Brad put him on the floor to go play. We sat there talking for a few minutes and I realized I hadn't heard him. BAD SIGN! I sent Ashton to go see what his brother was up to. The next thing I heard was "no, no baby!" and then Talan crying. Brad and I both ran in to see what was wrong.

To my horror Talan's sleeve was wet and I don't even want to think about it. Turns out the bathroom door had been left open and Ashton forgot to close the toilet lid AND forgot to put the seat down. Guess who was splashing in the toilet.

Yay Talan!

One of Talan's favorite daytime activities is to take a small toy onto the treadmill and sit and play. It must be exhilarating to him to be 10 inches above the ground. Usually he cries when he is done sitting on the treadmill and I have to go get him.

NOT ANYMORE!

I'm proud to announce that Talan has figured out how to get himself off the treadmill in a relatively safe fashion. So now his favorite activity is climbing off and on and off and on and off and on and off and on....etc.

Talan is 9 months!

"wow!"

That is the word that came out of the pediatrician's mouth as she looked at Talan's chart. She then repeated that several times and added that she thought she was seeing a 1 year old followed by more wow's and "he's in the 75% for weight you know." She was, of course, "wow!"ing the fact that Talan is 22 pounds! The family played 'GUESS TALAN'S WEIGHT' this morning on the way to school. Ashton guessed 99 pounds because he has no idea how much 99 pounds is, (although it was a pretty good guess) I said 22lbs and Brad said 23lbs. The pediatrician also said that this is about the point where dr's start to worry about calorie intake, but that isn't even an issue with Talan because it is obvious he is getting enough calories. Yes, he is gigantic and I love every bit of his chub.

Ashton's Career Goals (Birth to Age 6)

Superman
Batman
Rockstar
Author
Illustrator
Rockstar
Marine

The world of Talan

-For the last couple weeks Brad and I have noticed how Talan has become quite fond of my hairbrushes. It seems that he always finds them and then cries like it is the end of the world when I stop him from eating the hair entangled in them. Today he picked up one of my brushes and began trying to brush his hair. I ran for the camera and by the time I got back he was done with his hair and onto eating the wii remote.



-In just the last couple days I have fished a postcard, 2 gum wrappers, and a water bottle top out of Talan's mouth. Where he found these things I have no idea.



-Talan likes to eat the dinner I cook....even if I burn it.



-He has become very cuddly. On our way to his room at nap time or bed time he always lays his head down on my shoulder for one last cuddle before sleep. This however doesnt occur until we get into his room and are only a few steps away from his crib.


-He loves his big brother and everything his big brother does and owns.

-No room is better than the bathroom. I dont know if it is the fact that the tub is the perfect height to hold onto while standing or that he just really really likes to take a bath but the kid is always in the bathroom. If the door is shut he waits in front of it and then darts in as soon as it opens.

Last but not least....

-He is high maintenance. Maybe I should have realized this when I watched him try to style his hair with my brush or all the times he took a toy sword from Ashton's room and dragged it into his room just to play with it in front of the closet mirror doors. Now, its too late. He has a new ultra high maintenance bed routine. See below...

he likes to be laid down not on his back but not on his side. Sort of at an angle. We put a pillow behind his back to hold him in this position. He then gets 3 binkis. One for his mouth and 1 for each hand. He then studies all the binkis and decides which one he is going to suck on. After that decision is made he gets a sock to hold on to as if 2 binkis didnt take up his entire fists. Then he is covered up burrito style with blankets tucked under his legs. 1 rub on the head and lights out.

Is this kid serious???

FREE THE TOES!

My mom had an interesting story for me a few weeks ago. She said she was at Starbuck (apparently she is way too cool to make the 's' sound at the end) and she saw a guy sitting outside. She happened to look at his feet which he had propped up on a chair and it looked like they were completely covered in mud. As she got closer she realized he was not covered in mud and he just had on weird shoes. She talked to him for a bit and then decided "Rebecca would love those shoes."

As soon as she explained what these shoes looked like, I knew before I had ever seen a pair that I NEEDED them. That was on a sunday. On monday Brad and I drove to Rockville, MD to see these wonderful creations.

A little backstory before I unveil...I grew up in Huntington Beach, CA. I pretty much grew up barefoot. I would run all around outside around the neighborhood without shoes. Unless we were going in a store I didnt have shoes on. I really hate wearing shoes. I like my toes to have freedom. When my family moved to Kansas people would look at me like I was from mars when I would wear flip flops in december, or to any activity where flip flops might not be the best choice.

My previous running shoes were the Nike AirRift. They have since stopped making them with the quality of the ones I had so I held on to mine for 2 years because I hadnt found another pair of shoes that came close. They were designed after runners in Kenya and just had the big toe seperated from all the other toes, and a velcro strap to replace laces. I wore flip flops all the time so it felt comfortable to have something in between my toes.

My new shoes are very much like the AirRift shoes only each toe has its own compartment. Like a glove for my foot. They are called Vibram Fivefingers. I can stretch my toes, curl them do everything like I wasnt wearing shoes. They protect my feet from glass, nails, or any other something I would not like to step on but also allow me to feel everything like I was barefoot. The day after I got them I was taking Ashton to the bus stop and we ran down the alley. I was surprised to feel every rock and every stick beneath my foot.

So these are my new babies! They rarely leave my feet.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHTON

Ashton is officially 6 as of 12:26 this morning. Six years ago today Ashton came into this world "superman style" and ready to go. We came home from the birthing center about 7:00 am. I spent the day filling out birth announcements in between family visitors and loving my new little boy. Ashton spent most of the day sleeping.

Today, in honor of this special day, we took brownies to school to share with the classmates. Ashton was the head of table 1 and he got to pick 7 friends to sit at his table. Then everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. Afterwards we got to hang out in his class until school was out and see these kids at work. I just have to sidetrack now from Ashtons birthday and say how amazing the schools are here. I love that there are so many diffrent kids from diffrent cultures in Ashton's class. They were counting in: chinese, spanish, japanese, korean, danish, italian, and arabic. It is really great to have Ashton exposed to diffrent things.

Okay, back to the birthday. After school we headed to Red Robin, which is one of Ashton's favorite places. The staff sang to him which is what he requested, but when it was actually happening he was less than enthusiastic.

We then headed across the parking lot to Toys R Us where Ashton spent all but $5 of his gift card on "stuff". I believe he came out of there with a crossbow, Indiana Jones whip, shovel/rake/hoe set, and a Home Depot tool set. Yay Ashton!

On the way home we stopped at the Lego Store in Tysons Corner to use yet another gift card. He bought a lego set that I have no idea what it is and some skeleton lego guys.

We arrived home to find a present from Aunt Rachel. She sent him an excellent card game so we played that and then he and Brad played wii while I tried to come up with pirate treasure hunt clues.

It was an excellent day and I'm so happy that we could spend his birthday together as a family.

The night I wondered why women ever had babies...tomorrow I will know

6 years ago today I ate lunch at Cracker Barrel. I had chicken strips, fried okra, and that yummy cheesey hashbrown goodness. The midwife said eat something good because you wont be eating for a while. Then Brad and I walked around the trails in front of the Governers Mansion, but my legs got itchy so we walked the mall instead. We stopped back at our apartment because it looked as though Ashton wasn't going to come and we were going to be induced again in the morning. At about 5:45 I realized by sudden feeling of my hips breaking that Ashton was coming and began to scream at Brad "YOU DID THIS TO ME!" poor guy! At 7:00 we got in our 1990 white Jeep Cherokee Laredo and headed for the Birth Center. On our way we had to stop in the closest parking lot so I could loose all my once yummy Cracker Barrel lunch in the closest parking lot. Sorry Best Western. And so the night of Ashtons arrival begins. Although he doesnt officially enter the world until 12:26 am tomorrow.

How to kick gas prices in the butt

I'm sure everyone is tired of the gas prices lately. Someone posted this and thought I would share...

-Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps

-When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

-One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL.. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount

-Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Me: Do you want to make $5?

Ashton: No. I already have plenty of money.

Brad: How much money do you have?

Ashton: I have a dump-load of money.

Brad: How much money is that?

Ashton: I found a dime the other day, and I put it in my piggy bank.

Brad: Well you cant buy anything with a dime.

Ashton: Yeah, but I put it in my piggy bank with my other money, and now I have a dump-load.

For the record....Ashton has 6 dollars and some change.